I wonder if the upcoming closing of the IMAX theater at the museum of Natural History in DC might make this theater a target for a digital or even laser IMAX screen. It might make more profit that way.

The imax at the AMNH is the second biggest real imax in the city, although they mostly show documentaries in regular and digital and lack reserved seating that other imaxes have. It’s also the oldest and first IMAX theater in the NYC area since its opening more than 35 years ago.

Went to see “Dunkirk” in auditorium #1 and the screen was flat, with the preshow in flat followed by trailers in both flat and scope aspect ratio followed by the movie which was shown in 2.20:1 which was the same format used for 70mm prints. 35mm prints use the 2.39:1 ratio while the digital imax version is 1.9:1. The projection was pretty good and colors popped out nicely. The sound mix was pretty loud and the bass was thumping too. Dialogue was kinda hard to understand although there’s hardly any words spoken in some scenes due to the heavy action in the movie. I bet hearing it in imax would be more painful than seeing it in regular. The movie was entertaining for what it’s worth. Progress on Dolby Cinema is moving along just fine.

For digital 2k and 4k presentations of the movie the aspect ratio matches that of the 70mm print; the 35mm version is the 2.39:1 version; the imax 2k digital version is the 1.9:1 version with 65mm scenes in 2.20:1 and the intro in 1:1. Trailers for the 70mm prints are Blade Runner 2k49 (scope) and Justice League (flat). Audio is provided by Datasat (F/k/a DTS). I’m surprised that Nolan prefers 5.1 for his movies instead of 6.1 or 7.1 and beyond. The look of his movies when seen on bluray are much better than any other director since it’s more film like and not digital. I saw Power Rangers on bluray and noticed some jarring cinematography. It was shot on Red and looked sharp but there were frames that were skipped. On Nolan’s films, u can see minor splices and jump cuts from regular to imax form. For TDKR, the aspect ratio increases to regular in one scene while in Hunger Games Catching Fire, the screen opens up during the climax.

I think Dunkirk will have legs if it holds up in the next few weeks kinda like Saving Private Ryan did years ago. That film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture yet lost out to Shakespeare in Love. Hopefully Nolan’s latest movie wins an Oscar for best picture if it gets any nominations. Dunkirk is doing great in Europe especially Dunkirk, France where the movie takes place. I wonder how Asian audiences, especially China, will react to this movie when it opens overseas in the next few months. The imax figures are huge and should provide some much needed cash to Imax stock as stocks of that nature in general have fallen as opposed to the overall stock market. I think Dunkirk will sell well on Bluray, where hopefully they keep the imax ratio intact much like how they treated Nolan’s other Imax filmed movies including Interstellar, The Dark Knight, and its sequel which was the last good Batman movie.